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It varies between countries and frequency bands. But what counts the most is not the TX, it's the RX in the plane.

Did you do a range check comparison with video TX both off and powered? Such high TX powers can easily cause drastic range reductions with bad placement/poor quality receivers.

The image quality seems like a mix of bad quality CMOS for the colors (are there good ones anyway?), vibration for the thin fast moving lines, and bluetooth/WLAN for the wider horizontal lines appearing sometimes when the signal is low.

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My question where more how long do you guys go with a 500mW TX next to receiver?, and what RX/TX radio systems are you using.

Gave up on the idea after having 2 unexplained crashes on different planes in a row, only common point being the 500mW TX, which was already as far away as possible. During some ground tests I've come to see that even far away, depending of component orientation the receiver could be totally fooled.

Futaba 40MHz TX and 149DP dual conversion PCM RX.

In my common planes I use alot of different (Hyperion, Futaba, Schulze,...) receivers. My TX is a Futaba 9Z.

Now I always stay with the allowed 10mW. In any case not more than 200mW.

But WAY to much "light" in picture, its seems overexposed.

(Camera+TX is connected directly, do i need to put a resistor to ground?,

or cap(what size?)

Airwave modules need a coupling cap in series with the video. I think the the value is specified in tha datasheet (check the AWM module thread in the for sale section), or else 330uF will do it.

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Airwave modules need a coupling cap in series with the video. I think the the value is specified in tha datasheet (check the AWM module thread in the for sale section), or else 330uF will do it.

Kilrah, Do I need a decoupling cap (between Camera and AWM) on the TX side as well? I just know about the decoupling cap on the RX side...

-AT-Loop: I like your video! It happened to me a couple of times already. So the recorded video was the most effective help to find it again, even in total darkness after a night flight (that was a horror trip )

I'm glad your plane is fine. Once I lost control exactly the same way flying close to power lines. They seem to radiate so much "noise" even in RF that the AGC of the RX receiver seems to turn down sensitivity and doesn't "hear" the Remote control's calling anymore. It might also behave like a shield. So now I make sure to either stay from them or to fly high enough with lots of margin so they can't block my control's signals by being in the line of sight.

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Mmh, it's true the datasheet doesn't use one on the TX side. I have put one on mine, but might try without too then. There's the 470uF cap on the bypass pin in the datasheet, that I havent noticed and thus not installed, it worked perfectly without though.

With 10mW it depends a lot on your setup that is more critical than with a bunch of power, especially the RX. A bad quality 500mW set is no problem, you'll still have far more than enough range if the TX ends half the secified power and the RX isn't very sensitive, but with low power you of course don't have that margin.

With a 8dBi RX antenna I regularly fly up to 1-1.3km, then I'm limited by the R/C range and come back

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Well I went for a flight tonight and not too far from launching, I had lost radio control of my plane ( should of grounded her then). Strange... very strange, but regained control shortly after. I was testing out my new 14db patch antenna and it worked quite well as I predicted. This time I noticed video ripping, something I heard about but never personally experienced. Anyhow I flew quote, I think 2.5 to 3 km up and then I lost total control! I believe the wing folded and if that happened, then it would of ripped my wiring out and that could explain why I might of lost radio and video signal. Anyhow thank god that the property I flew in was very large, actually this person owns a small mountain on her farm. So guess where my plane crashed? Yup of course on one of the three rock face somewhere. So if the weather man is wrong (suppose to rain this weekend ) I will have to do a little up hill climbing and some rock climbing to retrieve the wreckage. ohh fun.

I hope the forest will shelter the planes' electronics/motors from the predicted rain. I'm posting a video as I am typing so by tomorrow I will provide a Megaupload link. (hope, for I seem to be having troubles uploading with them too ) I tell you when problems comes, it doesn't always trickle but sometimes pour all at once

The best loss of control I've had was a VERY lucky one. It was with a glow engine trainer by the sea. Flew maybe 15mins, went far up and decided to stop the engine to glide down smoothly without the vibrations. About 15secs later, no more control. The plane glided down smoothly as desired, but on its own... flying large circles, half of each being over the sea, the other half over land. Very fortunately it landed on the land part, with about nothing more than a broken prop. The culprit was the RX battery deciding to disconnect itself... and the most annoying part, I had noticed the plug between the battery and switch harness was a bit loose, and thus had put some tape on there. The tape didn't stick to the plastic correctly...

Very fortunately again, that didn't happen 15secs earlier. The ending wouldn't have been the same with the engine running and a tank large enough for it to fly 10km out over the see if it had fancied it...

Edited June 8, 2007 by Kilrah

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Ouch! I feel your pain JMS - my nightmare as well. We don't have a lot of field to fly here and there are trees everywhere so I think we all share the same nightmare. The worst thing would be to come down on traffic or someone. Fortunately that didn't happen in your case. Hope you find your plane back in one piece.

On one of my recent FPV flights, after I landed, I noticed the rudder had popped out at the hinges! Needless to say I was thankful it didn't happen in mid-air.

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Thanks guys for the support.... better than getting a hug Hee hee... anyways things happen so move on I do! Here is the vid for you guys to see... right to the end ( loosing all signal up in the air. ) http://www.megaupload.com/?d=LZ67DPCQ

your crash could have been avoided, it was close to roads, and houses !

you could have ruined your self and caused serious harm to cars or persons.

imagine the senario on a road people drive 80kmh and suddently an RC plane hits a car on the front window, the driver will maybe change lane to avoid the plane, hitting another car in the other lane, you continue the story..

your crash could have been avoided, it was close to roads, and houses !

you could have ruined your self and caused serious harm to cars or persons.

imagine the senario on a road people drive 80kmh and suddently an RC plane hits a car on the front window, the driver will maybe change lane to avoid the plane, hitting another car in the other lane, you continue the story..

Hey Thomas!

Actually that road is a long driveway, the cars were ours and the house.... well the owner was with me during the flight.

The shaky flight was due to shaky nerves? Should had a shot of vodka before flight

Yes this was to see what this plane could do and believe me guys, this property is huge! So I made sure that nobody would get hurt except my pride! Funny thing when I saw her helicopter down to earth, she virtually floated down like a leaf! Hey I could of boiled some water, made some tea, steeped it a bit and continued watching her helicopter downward. Soooo slow! So I assume there isn't going to be too much damage when I find her; oh I decided to go today after work! Could use the exercise anyways.

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Ok I got my fill of exercise ( for the entire year! I deserved that!) at the "mountain" and too much leaves were growing on the trees now because it's spring, so I assume she's hampering on some tree top. So the TS FPV plane is a write off.. oh gee. I just don't know what to replace it with now, all I know is I want to go lighter, slimmer, coast slower and fly longer like a glider!

You know I flew up here on a Cessna and the scenery is awesome! If I had succeeded, I should of been able to ( while gliding back down ) see the Juan de Fuca Straight, Gulf Islands, city of Vancouver (CND) and the snow capped Mount Baker/Mount Rainier (USA). Ohh I can hear Christopher Cross singing his hit song "Sailing" now.

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BTW folks.... in case some of YOU are thinking my latest flight was nutty, well the truth, the facts, the laughs, the horrific graphical images... ahhhhhhh ... scary stuff... Yes folks the comedy SOAP OPERA continues here on this link. So if you dare.... click here! http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread....t=696837&page=2

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I am just getting into the FPV flying (need money first) but I am looking at adding a PicoPilot to my list of must haves when I start putting my plane together. That way if signal is lost it will fly autonomously back to the start location. I could also use the PicoPilot to fly to waypoints that I program so I can look around without worrying about controls. In theory, if I do lose the plane I can use the GPS last known Lat/Log and a handheld GPS to find the plane. Thought this might help other people that might fly out of sight FPV.